Neurosurgeons have called for a better infrastructure and recognition in India at the inauguration ceremony of the first international conference of the Neurological Surgeons Society of India (NSSI) at Poona Hospital and Research Centre. The three-day conference concluded on Sunday.

Over 200 neurosurgeons from all over India and fifteen leading neurosurgeons from all over the World took part in the seminar. The theme of the event was ‘Truthful neurosurgery and complication-free neurosurgery.’

“There is a wide gap in training of neurosurgeons. There are only 1,500 neurosurgeons in the country which is not enough,” said neurosurgeon R Rajkumar, secretary, the NSSI, and professor and head of the department of neurosurgery at the Sanjay Gandhi Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences, Lucknow.

Rajkumar added: “There is no government policy for homogenised training of neurosurgeons. The investment for approximately a 10-bedded Neurological Center is about 100 crore which makes it all the more difficult to have that kind of infrastructure everywhere. The equipments required are expensive since doctors require a magnified view of blood vessels, arteries, etc. Although we have made advances in obtaining high-end equipment, manpower remains a critical issue.”

President of the NSSI, A K Mahapatra, professor and head of the department of neurosurgery at the All Indian Institute of Medical Science also stressed on the need for proper infrastructure. “Our country will make headway in neurosurgery if proper infrastructure is available. Neurosurgeons have performed well as there have not been any referrals to other countries for neurological problems in recent times.”

“Currently, 250 neurosurgeons are enrolled every year in India. So with this rate, by 2030, there will be 5,000 neurosurgeons, which may not be enough,” Mahapatra said. Japan already has 6,000 neurosurgeons while a country like Turkey has 1,000 neurosurgeons, he added.

“The ideal ratio in developed country is 1 neurosurgeron per 2.5 lakh people. While in India, the ratio is 1 per 25 lakh to 30 lakh people,” said city-based neurosurgeon Sushil Patkar, national vice-president, NSSI and organising chairman of the conference.

Atotal of 60 papers presentations were made by the neurosurgeons at the conference that included topics like brain tumour, spine, epilepsy and related surgeries. Also, workshops for doctors were conducted across leading hospitals during the meet.